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Joest and Le Mans: A special kind of love |
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It is no secret that Reinhold Joest has a weak spot for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Joest Racing is the most successful Le Mans team ever with eleven wins since 1984. |
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Whoever knows the world’s toughest car race for both man and machine, also knows the Joest Racing Team. With no less than eleven overall victories, including a brace of one-two finishes and four times occupying every step on the podium, Joest made has made a name for himself in Le Mans. That Joest Racing even managed to leave the Porsche works team trailing in its wake on more than one occasion during the Porsche era, also went down in the history books.
Joest Racing won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times as Porsche customer team. Reinhold Joest achieved back-to-back victories in 1984/1985 and 1996/1997.
When Audi decided to compete at Le Mans, Joest Racing was the first port of call for the marque with the four rings. The success speaks for itself: At Audi’s Le Mans debut in 1999 a podium finish was achieved first time out. Audi Sport Team Joest won Le Mans three times in succession with the R8 in 2000, 2001 and 2002. And even this was not enough: There was not a single retirement; every car that started left every other competitor gasping behind.
Following the historical hat-trick during the 2002 season, Audi decided not to compete as factory team in Le Mans with the R8, but to leave the racing to the customer teams. Reinhold Joest was a reluctant spectator at Le Mans in 2003. However, his team, under the control of Technical Director Ralf Jüttner, supported the successful Bentley project in Le Mans.
In 2004, Ralf Jüttner supported Audi Sport Japan Team Goh, which secured a further Le Mans victory for Audi. Furthermore, Reinhold Joest was presented with the "Spirit of Le Mans" prize by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO).
The wish of Reinhold Joest to return to sportscar racing and Le Mans came true in 2006 - and this with a very special project: the Audi R10 TDI, the first diesel sportscar with the chance to fight for the overall victory at Le Mans and which achieved this goal at the first atempt. In 2007 and 2008, Audi Sport Team Joest repeated the victory with Audi TDI Power in thrilling races. In 2008 Joest Racing also wins in the Le Mans Series with Alexandre Prémat and Mike Rockenfeller. In 2009 Audi switched to the R15 TDI. With a revised version of the car the Audi Sport Team Joest achieved in 2010 his fourth 1-2-3 victory at Le Mans.
The Joest Racing Le Mans victories:
1984 Porsche 956 (#7) Ludwig/Pescarolo
1985 Porsche 956 (#7) Ludwig/"Winter"/Barilla
1996 TWR Porsche WSC95 (#7) Reuter/Jones/Wurz
1997 TWR Porsche WSC95 (#7) Alboreto/Johansson/Kristensen
2000 Audi R8 (#8) Biela/Kristensen/Pirro
2001 Audi R8 (#1) Biela/Kristensen/Pirro
2002 Audi R8 (#1) Biela/Kristensen/Pirro
2006 Audi R10 TDI (#8) Biela/Pirro/Werner
2007 Audi R10 TDI (#1) Biela/Pirro/Werner
2008 Audi R10 TDI (#2) Capello/Kristensen/McNish
2010 Audi R15 TDI (#9) Bernhard/Dumas/Rockenfeller
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